East Mids food supplier set for £1bn-plus flotation, say reports
A food supplier giant which has its regional head office in the East Midlands and employs thousands of people in across the area, could about to float on the stock market for more than £1bn.
According to reports over the weekend, Bakkavor, has been working with a group of advisers to prepare a flotation later this year. According to reports in the Telegraph, HSBC, Barclays, Citigroup, Rabobank, Peel Hunt and Morgan Stanley have been appointed to lead sale.
Bakkavor makes pizzas, ready meals and desserts for the likes of Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.
Earlier this year Bakkavor revealed it is set to close its Welcome Foods factory in Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire, putting around 300 jobs at risk.
However, last June, Bakkavor said it was going to create more than 470 new jobs at two of its East Midlands domestic production plants to meet demand for a range of deli products, ready meals and desserts.
In Nottinghamshire, Bakkavor Desserts Newark is looking to recruit another 370 staff to add to the site’s 1,700 workforce to meet demand for what it said was the UK’s “love for cakes”.
While at the same time, at its Lincolnshire Freshcook brand, the firm said it was looking to recruit more than 100 new employees at its factory in Holbeach St Marks.
Bakkavor has its regional office in Spalding, Lincolnshire. It was set up Lydur and Agust Gudmundsson, the Icelandic siblings who founded the business 31 years ago and employs around 16,500 people in the UK.
Last year, the firm made profits of £63.1m on revenues of £1.76bn.
